Florida April 2009 - Good price??

ant1979pry

Looking at Florida April 2009 - Good Price???????
Hi all, this is my first post on here so will keep it fairly short.
Having just got back from Florida am looking to book again for next year, have been with Travel City Direct the last 2 years and must say that I won't be going with them again just because of the POOR quality flights. Have been advised by a friend that Virgin flights will be much better.

With this in mind I started to look at prices for flights, the best two quotes for 2 adults and 3 children were from e-bookers and dial-a-flight. We are looking to go 23rd April until 7th May but are flexible in these dates if it means saving money!!

E-bookers and dial-a-flight came out at about £2000 for the 5 of us to fly which I thought was quite good at just over £400pp. These are both for Virgin direct flights as well!!

Called Dial-a-flight and they offered a package which was for the 5 flights, full-size car and 14 days stay at The Quality In Plaza for £2800. This seems quite a reasonable price and am giving some serious thought as Travel City Direct are quoting 2900 for there same package but with the crummy XL flights.

My question is - is this deal as good as I think it is? Couyld I save a significant amount of money by booking individually ( best price for flights alone being 2000) and would it be worth waiting and booking either closer to the time or very late?

Many thanks for reading this - any advice would be greatly appreciated.

:beer:

spaceman5

can i just ask, we are flying to florida in 3 weeks time with travel city direct, are the flights really that bad?, did you have any delays?, and finally what was the actual holiday like once you was over in florida, sorry to ask so many questions, just that i have been reading alot of bad things about travel city direct recently, so am starting to get a little worried, TIA Dave

Kez100

We (2 adults 2 children) went in March 2004 for two weeks at Springhill Suites inc car and premium pacakage fuel and insuranceand Virgin Holiday flights for £1960. That was USA spring break time but not Easter. It was also well before the fuel crisis.I couldn't get any better value at the time.

I don't think its a bad price, personally. However, I would pick a better hotel than you have or, I have always fancied a villa.

ant1979pry

can i just ask, we are flying to florida in 3 weeks time with travel city direct, are the flights really that bad?, did you have any delays?, and finally what was the actual holiday like once you was over in florida, sorry to ask so many questions, just that i have been reading alot of bad things about travel city direct recently, so am starting to get a little worried, TIA Dave

Hi Dave, the actual holiday has always been spot on with TCD, the planes have always been ancient though and this time just gone they ammended the flight plans a week before we went and added a stop on the way back at Newfoundland. This added 1.5 hours to the journey, the plane was apparently too small to make the journey in 1 go!!! As for the leg room, I am 6'2 and my knees were pinned to the chair in front. My partner is 5'4 and her knees were still in contact with the seat in front. I guess to some extent the flight is only a small part of the journey but having been with them twice am looking at Virgin this time round. Am sure you'll have agreat time though.

As for delay - an hour and a half last time from Sanford. No other delays with TCD.

ant1979pry

Kez100 wrote: »

We (2 adults 2 children) went in March 2004 for two weeks at Springhill Suites inc car and premium pacakage fuel and insuranceand Virgin Holiday flights for £1960. That was USA spring break time but not Easter. It was also well before the fuel crisis.I couldn't get any better value at the time.

I don't think its a bad price, personally. However, I would pick a better hotel than you have or, I have always fancied a villa.

Would like to get a better hotel or even a villa but don't want to go much past the 2800 mark to be honest - even cheaper would be better. Thats why I'm holding off booking at the moment just in case I can piece it together cheaper by booking flights/accom/car independantly.

poet123

You will get a nice villa in April for 800 for 2 weeks if you look carefully. Have you contacted Vjrgin Direct for flights? we found them good for price.

spaceman5

i noticed from next may, which dont suit your dates, but travel city direct are using brand new wide bodied a330 planes, so the flights should be a bit better from next year, Dave

spaceman5

i have also read elsewhere about them using a smaller plane and needing to stop somewhere, before heading onto florida, but we have heard nothing from them regarding this as yet, i am just wondering if it is a ploy by them to cut back on costs a bit, i mean if they not got enough bookings to fill a bigger plane, then they just use a smaller plane, hopefully that should not affect us, as u cant even book just 1 person onto the flight we are going on, so they must have had enough bookings to fill the plane, then again we are going in the 6 weeks holiday, Dave

ant1979pry

poet123 wrote: »

You will get a nice villa in April for 800 for 2 weeks if you look carefully. Have you contacted Vjrgin Direct for flights? we found them good for price.

Virgin direct were asking more for the flights than E-bookers were - it was even the exact same flights!!

Where's best place to find villas?

carbal

Hi,
Try this site:

http://www.orlandovillas.com/

ant1979pry

carbal wrote: »

Hi,
Try this site:

http://www.orlandovillas.com/

Many thanks